Hyderabad: Kalam celebrates Ramanujan

Hyderabad: The ambience at the St Ann’s Junior College for Girls was euphoric as former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam visited the college on Monday. He was invited to the college as a part of the ongoing National Year of Mathematics celebrations. Dr Kalam interacted with the students and inspired them in his unique way by narrating various experiences.

Sharing his thoughts on Srinivasa Ramanujan, the great mathematician, after whom the year was named as the National Year of Mathematics, Dr Kalam said, “Ramanujan lived for 33 years only. But he was an exceptional mathematician.” He also shared a poetry written by Tamil poet Bharatiyar about the emergence of women in the society, following which he made the students take a pledge against gender discrimination. Then students asked him as to what probable advice would he give to the current president Pranab Mukherjee. To which, the modest Dr Kalam responded, “What can I say?”

Furthermore, he was of the opinion that there should be more usage of non-fossil fuel like solar, wind, hydel and nuclear energy. “We import 90 billion dollars worth of fossil fuel every year, and each litre emits around 2 kg of Carbon-di-Oxide. I advocate energy independence. It’s time we used more of solar, wind, hydel and nuclear energy,” he suggested. When asked about the increasing dependency on the US in developing nuclear energy, Dr Kalam said, “There is lack of Uranium in our country. And we have enough Thorium, but not the technology. So till we develop the technology, we have to import Uranium for our nuclear needs.”

The ambience at St Ann's Junior College for Girls was euphoric during ex-president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's visit.

He also believes that the vision of India becoming a superpower by 2020 was still possible. “Regardless of the global economic problems, if India can increase its GDP growth from 6 to 10 per cent, and with 600 million youth power, I believe we can become a super power by 2020,” he said hopefully. Dr Kalam also donated five of his self-authored books to the college library.